Stiffness of Flexible Caisson Foundations Embedded in Nonhomogeneous Elastic Soil
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 12
Abstract
Solutions are presented for stiffness coefficients to represent the elastic behavior of a caisson foundation embedded in soil. The solutions use a novel numerical technique, the scaled boundary finite element method, combined with shell elements to represent the foundation itself. The stiffness coefficients take into account the possibility of nonhomogeneity in the soil (stiffness varying with depth), the geometry of the foundation, and the contribution to the stiffness of the skirt of the caisson foundation. Tabulated values allow a simple curve fit to the stiffness values to be employed for particular cases. The accuracy of the method is tested against previous solutions for particular cases. Example calculations are given to illustrate the method.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bell, R. W. (1991). “The analysis of offshore foundations subjected to combined loading.” MSc thesis, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.
Booker, J. R., Balaam, N. P., and Davis, E. H. (1985). “The behaviour of an elastic non-homogeneous half-space.” Int. J. Numer. Analyt. Meth. Geomech., 9, 353–367.
Byrne, B. W., and Houlsby, G. T. (2003). “Foundations for offshore wind turbines.” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 361(A), 2909–2930.
Cassidy, M. J. (1999). “Non-linear analysis of jack-up structures subjected to random waves.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.
Deeks, A. J., and Wolf, J. P. (2002). “A virtual work formulation of the scaled boundary finite-element method for elastostatics.” Comput. Mech., 28(6), 489–504.
Doherty, J. P., and Deeks, A. J. (2003a). “Elastic response of circular footings embedded in a non-homogeneous half-space.” Geotechnique, 53(8), 703–714.
Doherty, J. P., and Deeks, A. J. (2003b). “Scaled boundary finite-element analysis of a non-homogeneous axisymmetric domain subjected to general loading.” Int. J. Numer. Analyt. Meth. Geomech., 27, 813–835.
Doherty, J. P., and Deeks, A. J. (2003c). “Scaled boundary finite-element analysis of a non-homogeneous elastic half-space.” Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 57(7), 955–973.
Doherty, J. P., and Deeks, A. J. (2003d). “A three-noded axisymmetric plate/shell element with general loading.” UWA Civil Engineering Research Rep. No. C:1851.
Doherty, J. P., and Deeks, A. J. (2005). “Stiffness of a flexible circular footing embedded in an elastic half-space.” Int. J. Geomech., in press.
Houlsby, G. T., and Cassidy, M. J. (2002). “A plasticity model for the behaviour of footings on sand under combined loading.” Geotechnique, 52(2), 117–129.
Martin, C. M., and Houlsby, G. T. (2001). “Combined loading of spudcan foundations on clay: Numerical modelling.” Geotechnique, 51(8), 687–700.
Poulos, H. G., and Davis, E. H. (1974). Elastic solutions for soil and rock mechanics, Wiley, New York.
Wolf, J. P. (2003). The scaled boundary finite element method, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Wolf, J. P., and Song, C. (1996). Finite-element modelling of unbounded media, Wiley, Chichester, U.K.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 12 • December 2005
Pages: 1498 - 1508
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 28, 2004
Accepted: Apr 25, 2005
Published online: Dec 1, 2005
Published in print: Dec 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.